The PlayStation 2 is one of those systems that'll endure for many years to come, not for a strong library but because of the standards it set within the industry. It's the best-selling console ever, and its numbers are unlikely to be touched any time soon, with prices getting higher and market conditions making it harder to justify reductions, says a former higher-up at Sony.
During an appearance on the PSI podcast, Shawn Layden, the president and CEO of SIE America from 2014 through to 2019, lamented the state of hardware sales. "We know the chip and semiconductor market is under a lot of pressure right now," he says.
"After cryptocurrencies, AI is now obsessing manufacturers," he adds. "So, console manufacturers are having trouble achieving economies of scale. As a result, hardware prices aren't falling anymore."
This has been the crushing reality for a number of years now. The technological demands of AI have squeezed already tight pipelines to pretty tough degrees, causing supply to be well outweighed by demand, and for prices to rise across the board.
One of the knock-on effects is that hardware prices aren't dropping as quickly. Typically, consoles would drop their price-tags around halfway through the lifecycle, to encourage more people to get on board. Early adopters of a rival brand might then pick up the other, or those with tighter budgets can not afford it.
This was crucial for the PS2, which became very cheap towards the end of its life, with several models and bundles to pick up through-out its time of availability. You can't do that now, and Layden considers that an absolute shame.
"Take the PS2, the best-selling console of all time with nearly 160 million units sold," he comments. "If you look at the numbers, a large proportion of sales came after the console's price dropped to $199. The price cut boosted sales, and that's probably something we won't see in the current generation."
I would say he's very correct on that. Where the PS5 lands in overall sales will be intriguing to see, and then we have the PS6 awaiting us over the horizon. I'll tell you one thing for sure - it'll almost certainly cost you more than a PS2.
